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4 months ago

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  • Associated Press

Oct 10, 2024, 09:32 PM ET

DETROIT — Pinch hitter David Fry hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning, then bunted home an insurance run in the ninth to help the Cleveland Guardians force a decisive Game 5 against the Detroit Tigers in their American League Division Series with a 5-4 victory on Thursday night.

“David Fry is one of the best baseball players in this league,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.

Cleveland ended a streak of 11 losses in postseason elimination games dating to Game 6 of 1997 World Series after Emmanuel Clase got five outs for his third multi-inning save of the year.

“It’s win or go home,” Vogt said. “You want your best pitchers out there as long as possible.”

AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal will start Game 5 for the Tigers on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland.

“It’s always comforting to have Tarik Skubal on the mound,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said.

The winner advances to the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees or Kansas City Royals starting Monday.

“We’re still one win away,” Detroit first baseman Spencer Torkelson said. “That’s the mindset. We don’t want it easy. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

Fry said the Guardians’ resilience was no surprise.

“We’ve shown that all year long, that’s who these guys are,” he said. “We have a bunch of tough dudes. We get down 2-1 and we’re in the locker room like it’s just another day. We show up ready to play to try and get a win. And let’s go win Game 5.”

On the verge of reaching the ALCS for the first time since 2013, the Tigers overcame a 2-1 deficit when Zach McKinstry homered in the fifth and Wenceel Pérez hit a run-scoring single in the sixth.

Steven Kwan singled off Sean Guenther with two outs in the seventh.

Beau Brieske had pitched scoreless ball for 5⅓ innings over four postseason appearances before Fry, batting for Kyle Manzardo, drove a fastball off an advertising sign between the two bullpens in left for the second pinch-homer in Cleveland postseason history after Hank Majeski in Game 4 of the 1954 World Series.

That quieted the 44,923 fans who set a playoff attendance record for the second straight day at 25-year-old Comerica Park.

“Such a great baseball game,” Vogt said.

Clase preserved a 4-3 lead in the eighth when he escaped a second-and-third jam by striking out Trey Sweeney on a 100.9 mph cutter as the batter’s helmet came off.

Brayan Rocchio and Kwan hit one-out singles in the ninth and Fry bunted back to reliever Will Vest. Rocchio slid home headfirst to beat Vest’s backhand flip, boosting the lead to 5-3.

That proved to be important.

Pinch hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy doubled leading off the bottom of the ninth, advanced on Parker Meadows‘ groundout and scored on Jace Jung‘s groundout.

Clase, who gave up Kerry Carpenter‘s three-run homer in the ninth inning of the 3-0 loss in Game 2, struck out Matt Vierling, who couldn’t check his swing on a low and outside cutter.

“I was really excited to get to the mound, especially getting the trust back from the manager to get me in that role and that responsibility,” Clase said through an interpreter.

Lane Thomas ended the Guardians’ 20-inning scoreless streak with a two-out RBI single in the first off Reese Olson, who did not allow a run in the first inning of 22 regular-season starts

Sweeney hit a sacrifice fly in the second and Jose Ramirez put Cleveland ahead with a fifth-inning homere off Tyler Holton, ending an 0-for-10 skid.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Carpenter injured his left hamstring when he scored in the sixth and was pinch hit for in the seventh.

“It’s concerning, but I’m going to hold off any thoughts until the doctors give me an update and he gets imaging and all the things that we need to do prior to Saturday,” Hinch said.

UP NEXT

Left-hander Matthew Boyd may start Game 5 for the Guardians, whose last Game 5 was a loss to the Yankees in the 2022 ALCS. Vogt said the team will make that decision Friday.

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11-year-old rejects big haul for rare Skenes card

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2 hours ago

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January 24, 2025

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11-year-old rejects big haul for rare Skenes card

  • Associated Press

Jan 24, 2025, 06:28 PM ET

The young collector who scored a one-of-a-kind baseball card featuring National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes has turned down a trade offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Topps announced Friday that the 11-year-old from the Los Angeles area had declined the deal and instead was going to put the card — which features Skenes’ autograph and a patch from a game-worn jersey — up for auction.

The Pirates had put together a package that included 30 years’ worth of season tickets behind home plate at PNC Park and the chance to play a softball game on the field in exchange for the card.

Skenes’ girlfriend, LSU gymnast and influencer Livvy Dunne, also offered the card’s owner the opportunity to take in a game with her in a luxury suite at the ballpark during one of Skenes’ starts.

While the collector wrote in a journal entry shared by Topps that nabbing the card was a “dream come true,” that dream apparently did not include spending the next three decades attending games at PNC Park.

The team posted on X after the decision that it was “bummed” but offered to have the fan at a game sometime during the 2025 season.

Fanatics Collect, which will handle the auctioning of the card in March, said it would donate its proceeds from the sale to fire relief funds in the Los Angeles area.

The card could hold pretty high value considering the potentially bright future ahead for the 22-year-old Skenes, who finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting after an outstanding rookie season.

The No. 1 pick in the 2023 amateur draft made his major league debut in May and put together one of the most impressive rookie seasons in recent memory. Skenes was selected as the NL’s starting pitcher in the All-Star Game after only 11 starts and finished 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 games.

Skenes said over the weekend he hasn’t thought about the potential of signing a long-term contract to remain in Pittsburgh, saying instead that his focus is on helping the Pirates take a step toward contending in 2025. He is eligible for free agency after the 2029 season.

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Notre Dame safety Watts to enter NFL draft

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4 hours ago

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January 24, 2025

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Notre Dame safety Watts to enter NFL draft
Jan 24, 2025, 04:19 PM ET

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Two-time All-America safety Xavier Watts will enter the NFL draft rather than return to Notre Dame for a sixth season.

Watts made the announcement on social media Friday, four days after the Irish lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff championship game in Atlanta.

Watts is the No. 4 draft-eligible safety in 2025, according to ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr.

Watts began his college career as a receiver in 2020 and moved to defense his second season. He had 13 interceptions over the past two seasons, most by any player in the Football Bowl Subdivision. He picked off six passes this season, running one back 100 yards to help Notre Dame seal its win against Southern California. He was voted to the Associated Press All-America first team for two straight years.

Watts, whose hometown is Omaha, Nebraska, could have returned to Notre Dame to use the extra season granted by the NCAA to athletes who were active during the 2020 pandemic season. Most draft analysts project Watts to be selected late in the first round or in the second.

“As I embark on the next chapter of my football journey, I’m filled with pride as I look back on the many memories and people that I’ll forever cherish,” Watts wrote on X. “I hope that my time in the Irish uniform has helped continue the tradition of those that came before me.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Jones, ex-Huskers star and NFL RB, dies at 54

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4 hours ago

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January 24, 2025

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Jones, ex-Huskers star and NFL RB, dies at 54

  • Associated Press

Jan 24, 2025, 11:20 AM ET

OMAHA, Neb. — Calvin Jones, who rushed for more than 3,000 yards in three seasons at Nebraska and was with the Green Bay Packers when they won the Super Bowl after the 1996 season, has died. He was 54.

Police said Jones’ body was found in the basement of a house in north Omaha on Wednesday night. Police have not confirmed a cause of death pending an autopsy.

A friend of Jones, Jo Dusatko, told the Omaha World-Herald that carbon monoxide poisoning was suspected. She said the furnace in the home was not working and that Jones was using a generator in the basement.

Jones was a high school All-American at Central High School before he went to Nebraska, where he rushed for 3,166 yards and 40 touchdowns and was an All-Big Eight pick in 1992-93.

Jones and Derek Brown formed the tandem called the “We-Backs,” a nod to the Cornhuskers’ I-back position, with Jones the backup to Brown in 1991. Jones’ breakout that season came when he ran 27 times for a Big Eight freshman-record 294 yards and a school-record six touchdowns in a 59-23 victory over Kansas. His rushing total against the Jayhawks ranks No. 2 on the Nebraska single-game rushing chart.

Jones declared for the NFL draft in 1994 and was a third-round selection of the Raiders. He appeared in 15 games over two seasons with the Raiders and had a total of 27 carries for 112 yards and two catches for 6 yards. He appeared in one game for the Packers in 1996 but had no carries.

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